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Company wants to sell all of its assets, worth more than share price?
Why is the stock trading at only $5 per share? The share price is the perceived value of the company by people buying and selling the stock. Not the actual value of the company and all its assets. Generally if the company is not doing well, there is a perceived risk that it will burn out the money fast. There is a diff...
How can I get a mortgage I can't afford?
If you can't afford it don't buy it, the next perfect house is just around the corner. The more time you spend researching and looking at houses, the increased chance you will find the perfect house you can afford. Also, here in Australia, we (the banks as well) factor in an interest rate rise of 2% above current rates...
what is the timezone that yahoo uses for stock information
Using your example link, I found the corresponding chart for a stock that trades on London Stock Exchange: https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=RIO.L#symbol=RIO.L;range=1d As you can see there, the chart runs from ~8:00am to ~4:30pm, and as I write this post it is only 2:14pm Eastern Time. So clearly this foreign ch...
Who sets the price and provides the quoted price values for stocks?
The "price" is the price of the last transaction that actually took place. According to Motley Fool wiki: A stock price is determined by what was last paid for it. During market hours (usually weekdays from 9:30AM-4:00PM eastern), a heavily traded issue will see its price change several times per second. A stock's pric...
Should one invest in smaller valued shares in higher amounts, or higher valued shares in smaller amounts?
There's a case to be made that companies below a certain market cap have more potential than the higher ones. Consider, Apple cannot grow 100 fold from its current value. At $700B or so in value, that would be a $70T goal, just about the value of all the combined wealth in the entire US. At some point, the laws of lar...
What is the easiest way to back-test index funds and ETFs?
Back-testing itself is flawed. "Past performance is no guarantee of future results" is an important lesson to understand. Market strategies of one kind or another work until they don't. Edited in -- AssetPlay.net provides a tool that's halfway to what you are looking for. It only goes back to 1972, however. Just to tr...
Why do some stores have card-only self-checkouts?
There are a couple of advantages that I can think of. Since the machines are less complicated because they don't have to handle cash, they are less expensive and require less maintenance. Machines that handle cash require lots of moving parts. Cash machines require lots of employee interaction. The machines need to b...
What tax year does my income get assigned to if my client sends the payment in December but I receive it in January?
Confused? see your CPA
What should I be aware of as a young investor?
Disclaimer - I am 51. Not sure how that happened, because I remember being in my late teens like it was yesterday. I've learned that picking individual stocks is tough. Very tough. For every Apple, there are dozens that go sideways for years or go under. You don't mention how much you have to invest, but I suggest (A...
What are “preferred” stocks? How are they different from normal (common) stocks?
It is just a different category of stock issued by a company that gives its owners different treatment when it comes to dividend payment and a few other financial transactions. Preferred stock holders get treated with some preference with regard to the company's profits and assets. For example, dividends are typically ...
What are the top “market conditions” to follow?
Check out http://garynorth.com if you have $15/month. Or at least subscribe to his free newsletters (Tip of the Week, Reality Check). Well worth it. He doesn't pay much attention to the US market indicators, except to note that people are about 20% poorer than they were 10 years ago. He looks at more basic indicator...
Should I buy a house with a friend?
Unlike others who have answered the question - I have done this. Here is my experience - your mileage and friendship may vary: I bought a condo years ago with a longtime childhood friend. We did it for all the reasons you mentioned - sick of renting and not building equity, were both young, single professionals who h...
VAT & Tax implications of selling software
Not sure where the confusion is coming from - software/digital/intangible goods are just like any other product, with regard to VAT. Turns out it's being made complicated by HMRC... Anyone would think they enjoy making everyone who collects tax for free on their behalf a crook! You charge customers everywhere in the EU...
What are good games to play to teach young children about saving money?
We play Cash Flow and Cashflow for Kids by Robert Kiyosaki. Our kids love it.
Why can't the government simply payoff everyone's mortgage to resolve the housing crisis?
Interestingly, ancient Judaism and Christianity held a Jubilee year every 50 years in which all debts were forgive, slaves were freed, etc. "The land must not be sold permanently, for the land belongs to me. You are only foreigners, my tenant farmers." -Leviticus 25:23 Jubilee would more resemble "the government declar...
Ongoing things to do and read to improve knowledge of finance?
For learning about finances my main two financial resources are this site, and the Motley Fool. My secondary sources are keeping up with columns by my favourite economic journalists - in the press in the US, Australia, England, and India. Regarding your comment about feeling green on the basics despite the reading - yo...
Why are Rausch Coleman houses so cheap? Is it because they don't have gas?
I am a realtor and work for Rausch Coleman and can answer this question for you. We are a production builder. We build in communities with typically 5-9 Floorplan options per community and a select set of option and finishes that we offer. Because of the set options, we buy the materials in bulk and are able to receive...
Who are the sellers for the new public stocks?
Usually the big institution that "floats" the stock on the market is the one to offer it to you. The IPO company doesn't sell the stock itself, the big investment bank does it for them. IPO's shareholders/employees are generally not allowed to sell their shares at the IPO until some time passes. Then you usually see th...
Who owns NASDAQ? Does it collect fees from stock transactions?
NASDAQ OMX Group owns NASDAQ, a stock exchange. It is a corporation, and is listed on the NASDAQ as NDAQ. It makes money by: source NASDAQ also charges for market data services, found in the NASDAQ "Datastore". Other information about the fees charged by NYSE and NASDAQ may be found in the Investopedia article The NYSE...
How can one get their FICO/credit scores for free? (really free)
I visited annualcreditreport.com to get my annual credit report. It is only the report, not the score or FICO score. This is the only outlet I know of that allows you to get your report for free, without a bunch of strings attached or crap to sign up for and cancel later. It was very easy. I was wary of putting in m...
Can a broker refuse to place my limit-orders?
Ethereum trades are not subject to the same rules as securities are. Thats the primary flaw in your assessment. Yes, cryptocurrency is a free trading arena where you can actually take advantage of market inefficiencies yourself 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at massive profits. The equity securities markets are not lik...
Why do investors buy stock that had appreciated?
People buy stocks with the intention of making money. They either expect the price to continue to rise or that they will get dividends and the price will not drop (enough) to wipe out their dividend earnings.
Question about being a resident
I am assuming you are asking for Tax purposes. In Oregon, there is a distinction between Full-Year and Partial-Year residency for Tax purposes. You are most likely considered a Partial-Year resident since you moved into the state last year. However, there are also special conditions under which you might be considered ...
Is it irresponsible for me to lease a $300/month car for 18 months?
Some questions: Will you need a car after 18 months? What are you going to do then? How likely are you able to go over the mileage? Granted paying $300 per month seems somewhat attractive as a fixed cost. However lease are notorious for forcing people into making bad decisions. If your car is over miles, or there is...
UK: Personal finance book for a twenty-something
I would always recommend the intelligent investor by Benjamin Graham the mentor of warren buffet once you have a basic knowledge ie what is a share bond guilt etc In terms of pure investment the UK is fairly similar the major difference is the simpler tax structure, ISA allowance and the more generous CGT regime.
When the market crashes, should I sell bonds and buy equities for the inevitable recovery?
In a comment you say, if the market crashes, doesn't "regress to the mean" mean that I should still expect 7% over the long run? That being the case, wouldn't I benefit from intentionally unbalancing my portfolio and going all in on equities? I can can still rebalance using new savings. No. Regress to the mean just t...
Does the bid price of a stock change depending on which brokerage I am using?
They could have different quotes as there are more than a few pieces here. Are you talking a Real Time Level II quote or just a delayed quote? Delayed quotes could vary as different companies would be using different time points in their data. You aren't specifying exactly what kind of quote from which system are yo...
Is there a benefit, long term, to life insurance for a youngish, debt, and dependent free person?
Term life insurance for a healthy 30 year old is a heck of a lot cheaper than for a 40 year old who's starting to break down (and who needs the coverage since he's got a spouse and kids). So, get a long term policy now while it's cheap.
Why does it take two weeks (from ex-date) for dividends to pay out?
Why does it take two weeks (from ex-date) for dividends to pay out? For logistical and accounting purposes. This article says on the payment date: This date is generally a week or more after the date of record so that the company has sufficient time to ensure that it accurately pays all those who are entitled. It is fo...
Can a car company refuse to give me a copy of my contract or balance details?
The comments are getting too much, but to verify that you are not insane, you are being bullied. It sounds like this is a sub-prime loan, of which you are wisely trying to get out of. It also sounds like they are doing everything in their power to prevent you from doing so. For them you are a very profitable custome...
What is the correct answer for percent change when the start amount is zero dollars $0?
Anyone who has any business looking at growth numbers will know thay are meaningless in the first year, So all they need to know is that it's the first year. It's no different than the Billboard music charts' treatment of the "last week's chart ranking" and "movement up/down" columns. It will help with visual layo...
Switch from DINK to SIWK: How do people afford kids?
I see three areas of concern for your budget: This is way high. I am not sure how much of a house you live in, but the total of these two numbers should be around 25% not 41%. I am a person that considers giving an important part of wealth building, and gives to my local church. But as one other person has rightly sa...
What is an “at close order” in the stock market?
Usually backtests for (long-term) strategies are evaluated on a end-of-day basis where you only consider close prices. If your strategy performs well in these backtests, hopes are that if you use a market-on-close (MOC) order your performance will not diverge too much from the backtest. The fact that it won't diverge m...
What is the difference between a scrip dividend and a stock split?
Firstly a stock split is easy, for example each unit of stock is converted into 10 units. So if you owned 1% of the company before the stock split, you will still own 1% after the stock split, but have 10 times the number of shares. The company does not pay out any money when doing this and there is no effect on tax...
Is buying a home a good idea?
The New York Times offer a remarkably detailed Buy vs Rent calculator. You enter - From all of this, it advises the break-even rent, when monetarily, it's equal. I'd suggest you keep a few things in mind when using such a tool. Logic, common sense, and a Nobel prize winner named Robert Shiller all indicate that housi...
Car dealers offering lower prices when financing a used car
With new cars it's usually the other way around: finance at a low APR or get cash back when you buy it outright. With used cars you usually don't know how much they have invested in the car, so it's more difficult to know how low they're willing to go. Regardless, I do think it's odd that they would knock 2K off the pr...
How does a bank make money on an interest free secured loan?
Car dealers as well as boat dealers, RV dealers, maybe farm vehicle dealers and other asset types make deals with banks and finance companies to they can make loans to buyers. They may be paying the interest to the finance companies so they can offer a 0% loan to the retail customer for all or part of the loan term. N...
Short Selling Specific to India
In India the Short is what is called in other markets call as "Naked Short" [I think I got the right term]. It means that you can only short sell intra day and by the end of the day you have to buy back the shares [at whatever price, if you don't; the exchange will do it by force the next day]. In other markets the Int...
Online stock screener to find stocks that are negatively correlated to another stock/index?
You may want to have a look at DiversifyPortfolio which will give you the info you want plus quite a bit more. They offer various tools all related to stock correlation and diversification. You'll be able to create heatmaps and various other charts showing stock correlations. It also has several scans which allow you t...
Can I buy a new house before selling my current house?
I sold my house and had been in the market looking for a replacement house for over 6 months after I sold it. I found someone willing to give me a short term, 3 month lease, with a month to month after that, at an equitable rate, as renters were scarcer than buyers.By the time I found a house, there were bidding wars a...
When to register for a bank account for a C-Corp with no official money
Technically, it's only when you need to pass money through. However consider that the length the account has been open builds history with the financial institution, so I'd open ASAP. Longer history with the bank can help with getting approved for things like business credit lines, business cards, and other perks, thou...
Can I be building a house with the bank forever?
No, you can't do this indefinitely. For one, you can't just take money out as home equity with no strings attached. The cash out is done as a loan (often a HELOC) or second mortgage and you have to make payments. The lender will always make sure you are able to afford the payments. At some point, you won't qualify for ...
Announcement of rights offering (above market price) causing stock price increase [duplicate]
This seemed very unrealistic, I mean who would do that? But to my immense surprise the market price increased to 5.50$ in the following week! Why is that? This is strange. It seems that people mistakenly [?] believe that the company should be at 5.5 and currently available cheap. This looks like irrational behaviour. M...
Does an index have a currency?
From Wikipedia - To calculate the value of the S&P 500 Index, the sum of the adjusted market capitalization of all 500 stocks is divided by a factor, usually referred to as the Divisor. For example, if the total adjusted market cap of the 500 component stocks is US$13 trillion and the Divisor is set at 8.933 b...
Early Exercise and 83(b) Election
You mention "early exercise" in your title, but you seem to misunderstand what early exercise really means. Some companies offer stock options that vest over a number of years, but which can be exercised before they are vested. That is early exercise. You have vested stock options, so early exercise is not relevant. (I...
Difference between a mortgage and buy-to-let in UK
Another factor that makes Buy to let more expensive is the risk involved. With a buy to let you are dependent on finding a tenant that will keep regular payments. if the property is left empty you need to finance the mortgage yourself putting you under financial strain and raising risk. Also as Chis mentioned they are ...
How to become an investment banker?
Apply for a job/internship to get a first impression of what it means to work in investment banking. Go to a tier one business school and try to get an CFA. Most importantly: work, work, work... Get practical experience as much as possible.
Is it bad etiquette to use a credit or debit card to pay for single figure amounts at the POS
It's fine. Some people (including myself) charge any amount, no matter how small. I think charging small amounts is encouraged by no longer having to sign for small amounts (Not sure if this is state-by-state, though). Somewhere, the transfering of digital money is being paid for - either in the merchant fees, an AT...
Buying a home - brokerage fee
That sounds like a particularly egregious version of exclusivity. However, the way that you could handle that is to include a "contingency" in your purchase agreement stating that your offer is contingent upon the seller paying the brokerage fee. The argument against this, and something your broker might use to encoura...
Should a high-school student invest their (relative meager) savings?
You have a few correlated questions here: Yes you can. There are only a few investment strategies that require a minimum contribution and those aren't ones that would get a blanket recommendation anyway. Investing in bonds or stocks is perfectly possible with limited funds. You're never too young to start. The power o...
How do I build wealth?
You got some answers that essentially inform you that CEOs that have £200k written on their paysheet may in fact get much more. I'll take the opposite point of view and talk about people who (according to whatever definition) have a £200k/year income. How can they afford it Guess no 1: not all of them can (in the sens...
How much time would I have to spend trading to turn a profit?
Yeah, too subjective of a question I shorted BP last year during the deep water crisis, using a leveraged account 20 times larger than the amount of cash I actually had, instantly profitable. I was long Freddie Mac in March 2009 and that took several months to turn to move and turned a 100% gain I've flipped penny stoc...
Does longterm investment in index funds still make sense in a reality of massive algotrading?
What the automation mostly does is make short-term trading that much more difficult. Day trading is a zero-sum game, so if they win more, everyone else wins less. Long term trading (years to decades) is a positive-sum game; the market as a whole tends to move upward for fairly obvious reasons (at its basis it's still ...
Why does FlagStar Bank harass you about payments within grace period?
They call you because that is their business rules. They want their money, so their system calls you starting on the 5th. Now you have to decide what you should do to stop this. The most obvious is to move the payment date to before the 5th. Yes that does put you at risk if the tenant is late. But since it is only one...
Tax deductions on empty property
A real estate business could offset income from occupied property with costs from vacant property held for speculation. For speculation, you can let a building rot, then get it reassessed. If the jurisdiction assesses part or all of the tax bill on the value of improvements, this can drop the annual tax bill signific...
Investing small amounts at regular intervals while minimizing fees?
I was going to comment on the commission-free ETF answer, which I agree with, but I don't have enough reputation. TD Ameritrade has a list of commission-free ETFs and has no minimum deposit required to open an account. Another idea is to keep gifts in cash until a certain threshold is reached. For instance, $100 for bi...
Over the long term, why invest in bonds?
Bonds provide protections against stock market crashes, diversity and returns as the other posters have said but the primary reason to invest in bonds is to receive relatively guaranteed income. By that I mean you receive regular payments as long as the debtor doesn't go bankrupt and stop paying. Even when this happens...
If I believe a stock is going to fall, what options do I have to invest on this?
There are three ways to do this. So far the answers posted have only mentioned two. The three ways are: Selling short means that you borrow stock from your broker and sell it with the intent of buying it back later to repay the loan. As others have noted, this has unlimited potential losses and limited potential gain...
Resources to begin trading from home?
Since then I had gotten a job at a supermarket stocking shelves, but recently got fired because I kept zoning out at work This is not a good sign for day trading, where you spend all day monitoring investments. If you start focusing on the interesting math problem and ignoring your portfolio, you can easily lose money...
How can I save on closing costs when buying a home?
Mostly ditto Pete B's answer. There's little you can do about closing costs. Some closing costs are government fees. There's nothing you can do about this. Sad and unfair as it is, taxes are not optional and not generally negotiable. Title insurance and fire insurance are required by the lender. Even if you're paying c...
When a company reports it earnings, when does the SEC EDGAR system show the report online?
IT appears the company you're talking about did not report as you expected them to, which is not unusual for OTC companies because, as Milo stated, they are not well-managed. That being said, reports on EDGAR are available as soon as they're posted. I'm not aware of any lag between when the company uploads their repor...
A friend wants to use my account for a wire transfer. Is this a scam or is it legitimate?
This is not only a scam but it is potentially fraud that may get you in trouble. This "friend" of yours will wire you some money in which you do not know where this money is really from. It's obvious from other answers that his story is fictitious. Thus it is likely that this money was stolen through another scam/hack ...
Can I predict if it is better to save money in USD or local currency?
Typically, the higher interest rates in local currency cover about the potential gain from the currency exchange rate change - if not, people would make money out of it. However, you only know this after the fact, so either way you are taking a risk. Depending on where the local economy goes, it is more secure to go wi...
What are my chances at getting a mortgage with Terrible credit but High income
I also am paying roughly twice as much in rent as a mortgage payment would be on the type of house I have been looking at, so I'd really like to purchase a house if possible. Sounds like I need to rain on your parade a bit: there's a lot more to owning a house than the mortgage. Property tax, insurance, PMI, and mainte...
How can a credit card company make any money off me? I have a no-fee card and pay my balance on time
Ever wonder why certain businesses won't accept certain credit cards? (The sign above the register saying "Sorry, we don't accept AmericanExpress"). It's because they don't want to pay that credit card company's transaction fees. One of the roles of the credit card company is to facilitate the transaction process betwe...
Is real (physical) money traded during online trading?
I think you need to define what you mean by "buy currency online using some online forex trading platform" ... In large Fx trades, real money [you mean actual electronic money, as there is not paper that travels these days]... The Fx market is quite wide with all kinds of trades. There are quite a few Fx transactions...
Please explain the relationship between dividend amount, stock price, and option value?
1) What's the point of paying a dividend if the stock price automatically decreases? Don't the shareholders just break even? When the company earns cash beyond what is needed for expenses, the value of the firm increases. As a shareholder, you own a piece of that increased value as soon as the company earns it. When ...
What's a good way to find someone locally to help me with my investments?
I would start by talking to a Fee-Only Financial Planner to make sure the portfolio fits with your goals. You can find a list here: http://www.napfa.org/
Is 6% too high to trade stocks on margin?
Yes, 6% is a waste of money, because some other brokers such as IB offer margin rates below 2%. Also, to borrow money for even less than any broker's margin interest rate, one can do an EFP transaction. This involves simultaneously shorting a stock and buying the SSF for the same stock. When the futures contract ...
What are the tax liabilities or impact for selling gold?
Gold is classified as a collectible so the gain rates are as follows: So you'd report a gain of $100 or $1,000 , depending on which coin you sold.
Automate Savings by Percentage on varying paychecks?
When I have been faced with this sort of situation I have done the split at the bank. They had the ability to recognize the deposit as a payroll transfer and split it the way I wanted. I put a specific amount of money into checking, another amount of money into the mortgage, and a specific amount of money into another...
Co-signer deceased
People act like lawsuits are the end of the world, her suing shouldn't be considered a threat, it should be considered the accurate course of action to resolve contractual obligations. Of course, it would be convenient if she did nothing at all! If you believe her real goal is to "get it off her credit", then have her...
File bankruptcy, consolidate, or other options?
If your parents' business isn't viable (regardless of what combination of the economy or their management of it caused it not to be viable) it would seem that you'd be throwing good money after bad to save it. If the whole thing gets paid off, then they get rid of the debt, but the economy will still be in the tank and...
Taxable income on full-time job + business earnings
I'm not sure I am fully understanding the nuance of your question, but based on your answer in the comments you and your business are not separate legal entities. So your income is the full $70K, there is no distinct business to have income. If you clarify your question to include why you want to know this I might be a...
Is capturing a loss a unique opportunity?
I agree, one should not let the tax tail wag the investing dog. The only question should be whether he'd buy the stock at today's price. If he wishes to own it long term, he keeps it. To take the loss this year, he'd have to sell soon, and can't buy it back for 30 days. If, for whatever reason, the stock comes back a ...
Is it legal to not get a 1099-b until March 15?
If one looks at the "Guide to Information Returns" in the Form 1099 General Instructions (the instructions that the IRS provides to companies on how to fill out 1099 and other forms), it says that the 1099-B is due to recipient by February 15, with a footnote that says "The due date is March 15 for reporting by trustee...
Do people tend to spend less when using cash than credit cards?
I thought I'd see if the credit card companies had anything to say about this while trying to get merchants to sign up. I went to visa.com, clicked "Run Your Business" in the top nav, then "Accept Visa Payments". This page has a "More benefits of accepting Visa" link with an overlay (which I can't easily link directly ...
What's the difference between Term and Whole Life insurance?
Whole life is life insurance that lasts your whole life. Seriously. Since the insurance company must make a profit, and since they know they will always pay out on a whole life policy, whole life tends to be very expensive, and has lower "death" benefits than a term policy. Some of these policies are "paid-up" policie...
Are limit orders safe?
I assume you're talking about a sell order, not a buy order. When you place a limit sell order, your order is guaranteed to be placed at that price or higher. If the market is currently trading much higher than the price of your sell order, then your mistakenly low limit order will be essentially a market order, and w...
How will I pay for college?
There are some useful comments about the tradeoffs of the decisions in front of you. Intertwined with the financial choices, hopefully you can see a map opening up. Make a little chart if it helps. Benefit and Cost. If you're looking for financial options, you will have to also add more columns to that chart: Opt...
For young (lower-mid class) investors what percentage should be in individual stocks?
I would not advise any stock-picking or other active management (even using mutual funds that are actively managed). There is a large body of knowledge that needs learning before you even attempt that. Stay passive with index funds (either ETFs or (even better) low-cost passive mutual funds (because these prevent you ...
I carelessly invested in a stock on a spike near the peak price. How can I salvage my investment?
If the company is stable. I like to recoup losses by buying in the valley and selling it all at the plateau and then learning as all beginners do, don't buy stocks because there's a feeding frenzy...or because Joe told me too. Pick your strategy in stocks and learn to stick with that. If you have no strategy, buy land...
In Canada, can a limited corporation be used as an income tax shelter?
This scheme doesn't work, because the combination of corporation tax, even the lower CCPC tax, plus the personal income tax doesn't give you a tax advantage, not on any realistic income I've ever worked it out on anyway. Prior to the 2014 tax year on lower incomes you could scrape a bit of an advantage but the 2013 bu...
Why is company provided health insurance tax free, but individual health insurance is not?
This probably is a question that belongs on History but here's the basic reason: the or Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) of 1974 established that health benefits under approved plans were not taxable to the employee. If the employer were to pay for an employees non ERISA approved individual plan, it wou...
Incentive Stock Option (ISO) tax question - more specific this time
Alternatively you could exercise 12000 shares for $36000 and immediately sell 7200 shares to recover your exercise price. Then you use the remaining 4800 share to pay the exercise price of the remaining 8000 options. Both scenarios are equivalent but may have different fees associated, so it's worth checking the fine p...
Negative properties of continuously compounded returns
You cannot use continuous compounding for returns less than or equal to 100% because a natural logarithm can only be taken for a positive amount. This answer includes the accurate way to ascertain r, for which many people use an approximation. For example, using -20% monthly return for 12 months:- -0.2 -0.223144 0.068...
Why does gold have value?
Everything is worth what its purchaser will pay for it. --Publilius Syrus. Gold has value because people want to buy it. Electronics manufacturers like the fact that it's conductive. Jewellers like that its shiny. Glenn Beck likes that he's selling it and his audience will buy it. Proponents of gold claim that it ha...
Ongoing things to do and read to improve knowledge of finance?
The best learning technique for me is not to dredge through books in order to gain a better understanding of finance. This is tedious and causes me to lose interest. I'm not sure of your tolerance for this type of learning. I tend to learn in small pieces. Something piques my interest and I go off reading about tha...
Are multiple hard inquiries for a specific loan type okay?
tl;dr: Your best course of action is probably to do a soft pull (check your own credit) and provide that to the lender for an unofficial pre-approval to get the ball rolling. The long of it: The loan officer is mostly correct, and I have recent personal evidence that corroborates that. A few months ago I looked into re...
How to pay with cash when car shopping?
Ask the dealer to drive to the bank with you, if they really want cash.
What steps should be taken, if any, when you find out your home's market value is underwater, i.e. worth less than the mortgage owed?
That's easy, keep making the payments and go on with life. The number that matters more than loan/market value is loan/equity. As long as you can sell it for enough to pay the balance on your loan you should be okay. Not saying it doesn't suck, but financially you are fine. If you owe more than the house is worth, I'd ...
What happens if someone destroy money?
Depending on the country, nothing. For example, the US has about $1.3 trillion dollars of cash in circulation. Which means that if you were to burn a million dollars of it, that would be 0.000077% of the circulating cash. But cash is a small portion of the actual money in the US. Only about 8% of all money is in c...
Where to park money while saving for a car
As you're saving up for an expenditure instead of investing for the long run, I would stay away from any sort of "parking facility" where you run the risk of not having the principal protected. The riskier investments that would potentially generate a bigger return also carry a bigger downside, ie you might not be able...
Do stock prices really go down by the amount of the dividend?
Ex-Dividend Price Behavior of Common Stocks would be a study from the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis and University of Minnesota if you want a source for some data. Abstract This study examines common stock prices around ex-dividend dates. Such price data usually contain a mixture of observations - some with and...
Buying back a covered Call
Your three options are: Options 2 and 3 are obviously identical (other than transaction costs), so if you want to keep the stock, go for option 1, otherwise, go for option 3 since you have the same effect as option 2 with no transaction costs. The loss will likely also offset some of the other short term gains you men...
What assets would be valuable in a post-apocalyptic scenario?
A book on the power of persuasion. The people will need you to lead them to the glory land like the Deacon* from Waterworld *Dennis Hopper. Study up.
Including the region where you live in your investment portfolio?
Diversification is a risk-mitigation strategy. When you invest in equities, you generally get a higher rate of return than a fixed income investment. But you have risks... a single company's market value can decline for all sorts of reasons, including factors outside of the control of management. Diversification lets y...
60% Downpayment on house?
Strictly by the numbers, putting more than 20% down is a losing proposition. With interest rates still near all time lows, you're likely able to get a mortgage for less than 4%. The real rate of a return on the market (subtracting inflation and taxes) is going to be somewhere around 5-6%. So by this math, you'd be be...
Can I buy stocks directly from a public company?
This is allowed somewhat infrequently. You can often purchase stocks through DRIPs which might have little or no commission. For example Duke Energy (DUK) runs their plan internally, so you are buying from them directly. There is no setup fee, or reinvestment fee. There is a fee to sell. Other companies might have ...
Is a fixed-price natural gas or electricity contract likely to save money?
In my area, the fixed prices are based on an average. My gas company will look at my previous months (six months if I remember correctly) payments and give me an average based on that amount. Then I am contracted for a year based on that average. If I lower my costs, I'm under contract and will not see the savings but ...